News

Ninth place for ORICA-GreenEDGE in the opening team time trial of Tirreno-Adriatico

Wed 9 Mar 2016

ORICA-GreenEDGE crossed the finish line on stage one of the 51stTirreno-Adriatico with a time of 24 minutes and 20 seconds for the 22.7kilometre course, taking ninth place in the standings.

BMC Racing posted the fastest time on the day of 23 minutes and 55 seconds with Etixx-Quickstep and FDJ taking second and third place respectively.

Sports director Matthew White was happy with the team’s performance on the opening stage.

“It was a really solid effort from the young team that we have here" White said. "It’s not our natural pursuit but we did well and it was a great start.”

“We have a lot of ambitions as a team and a balanced squad for what we want to achieve here this week.”

At the races opening press conference on Tuesday Colombian Esteban Chaves took his place at the top table among the contenders for the overall victory of the race. Brushing off the talk of pressure and expectation, Chaves empahasised the importance of his teammates and getting off to a good start in the race.

White continued in this vein when asked about the team’s position after stage one.

“The big danger for anyone riding with an eye on the general classification would be to lose a considerable amount of time on stage one, because it would be difficult to make that time up against the big riders that are here.”

“We are in the ballpark and that could be important at the end of the week.”

How it happened:

With an initial weather forecast of strong winds and heavy rain riders were pleased to see the clouds part and the sun begin to shine before the start of stage one. The team time trial was being held in the art-deco seaside town of Lido di Camaiore, which is part of the Italian coastline known as the Versilia.

Movistar were the first team out on the course but it was Tinkoff who posted the fastest time of the first few teams off the ramp with 24:06. FDJ went two seconds quicker than Tinkoff as the two teams became the day's early pace setters.

ORICA-GreenEDGE put in a solid effort, with strong turns by Luke Durbridge and Svein Tuft, initially placing fourth in the provisional standings. Cannondale lost time after three of their riders crashed early on including team leader Rigoberto Uran.

By the time world time trial champions BMC Racing rolled out onto the course it was Etixx-Quickstep who held the top spot with a time of 23:57”. That time in the hot seat didn’t last long as BMC, with four of their championship winning squad present in today’s line up, set the fastest time with an average speed of 56.9 kph.

Daniel Oss takes the race leader's blue jersey for stage two which runs from Camaiore to Pomerance. The stage is a long one at 207 kilometres and runs south down the West coast, predominantly a flat stage until around the 120 kilometre mark. The climbs come late in the stage with the finish also held on a slight incline.